FOOTBALL

EAGLES’ CHAD LEWIS WILL MISS SUPER BOWL Philadelphia Eagles tight end Chad Lewis will miss the Super Bowl with a foot injury.

Lewis, who caught two touchdown passes in Philadelphia’s victory over Atlanta in the NFC championship game Sunday, will have surgery tomorrow. He was hurt on his second touchdown grab, a 2-yard catch that sealed the win. Second-year pro L.J. Smith will take Lewis’s spot in the starting lineup against New England in the Super Bowl on February 6.

Meanwhile, All-Pro wide receiver Terrell Owens’s status is uncertain. Owens has been sidelined with an ankle injury since December 19. Eagles coach Andy Reid said Owens has made “great progress,” and will try to run on the ankle this week.

BASEBALL

METS RESUME TALKS WITH DELGADO One day after saying the Mets were out, Carlos Delgado’s agent said they were back in. David Sloane, who represents the free agent first baseman, resumed talks with the Mets yesterday and said the Marlins and Orioles remained in contention to sign Delgado.

After the Mets told him on Sunday that they needed to have a decision by the end of the night, Sloane said New York had withdrawn, a statement that puzzled the Mets, who said they were waiting to hear back. Yesterday, the sides started talking again.

Texas, which had offered a $48 million, four-year con tract, withdrew Sunday after Delgado said he wasn’t prepared to be a designated hitter most of the time.

TONY CLARK SIGNS ONE-YEAR DEAL WITH ARIZONA Free agent Tony Clark agreed yesterday to a $750,000, one-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks and said he is content to be the backup to young Chad Tracy at first base.

Clark, 32, appeared in 106 games and started 64 for the Yankees last season, hitting .221 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI. Clark, a switch hitter, has played 10 seasons in the majors, the first seven with Detroit, where he was an All-Star in 2001. He’s a career .264 hitter with 191 home runs and 635 RBI.

DODGERS AVOID ARBITRATION WITH PENNY Right-hander Brad Penny avoided salary arbitration by agreeing yesterday to a $5.1 million, one-year contract with the Dodgers. Penny was 1-2 with a 3.09 ERA in 11 2-3 innings before he was sidelined August 9 due to a nerve problem in his pitching arm.

Also yesterday, Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi and the Chicago White Sox reached agreement on a two-year contract worth between $2 million and $2.5 million per season, and Jake Westbrook avoided salary arbitration with Cleveland by agreeing to a $7.5 million, two-year contract.

HOCKEY

NHL, UNION TO RESUME TALKS The NHL and the players’ association will resume talks this week in a bid to save the season – and they’ll meet yet again without commissioner Gary Bettman or union head Bob Goodenow.

The sides met twice last week without Bettman and Goodenow. Those meetings, over two days in Chicago and Toronto, were initiated by Vancouver Canucks center Trevor Linden, the NHLPA president.

Optimism was expressed last Wednesday after the first day of meetings when Linden and Calgary Flames part-owner Harley Hotchkiss had a chance to talk one-on-one. The good feeling didn’t carry over to the next day, though, and Linden reportedly told players in a recorded message on the players’ Web site that the NHL was still insisting on a salary cap and that the season would likely be canceled.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

DUKE MOVES UP TO NO. 2 IN AP POLL Illinois’s eighth consecutive week as the no. 1 team in the Associated Press’s college basketball poll was its first without Kansas as no. 2.

The Illini received all but one of the 72 first-place votes from the national media panel Monday. Duke received the only other no. 1 nod and moved up two spots to second, replacing Kansas, which dropped to sixth following its loss at Villanova on Saturday.

Utah was the lone newcomer to the poll, moving in at no. 25 and replacing Marquette, which lost two games last week.

NO. 4 SYRACUSE SLIPS BY RUTGERS Terrence Roberts’s three-point play with 7.2 seconds left capped no. 4 Syracuse’s comeback from an 18-point halftime deficit and gave the Orange an 86-84 victory over Rutgers last night. The win wasn’t secure until Quincy Douby’s 3-point shot with just over a second left rolled around the rim and out.

It was the 13th consecutive win for Syracuse (20-1, 7-0 Big East) and gave coach Jim Boeheim 20 victories for the 27th time in his 29 seasons at his alma mater.

Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick each had 21 points for Syracuse. Ricky Shields had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Rutgers (7-9, 1-5), which has lost six of seven.

OKLAHOMA UPSETS RIVAL OKLAHOMA STATE Kevin Bookout scored 23 points and Taj Gray added 22 as no. 13 Oklahoma exploited a weakness up front with its talented tandem and beat no. 9 Oklahoma State 67-57 last night.

The Sooners (16-2, 5-0 Big 12) gave back most of an early 17-point lead before taking over again in the second half and giving coach Kelvin Sampson his 250th win at Oklahoma.

After Oklahoma State (14-3, 4-2) pulled within 33–27, Book out scored six points during a 10-0 run that put the Sooners back in control.

BOXING

LEWIS DENIES REPORTS OF A RETURN Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis denied a report that said he’ll end his retirement to fight Vitali Klitschko in November.

The Sunday Mirror, a London tabloid, quoted Lewis as saying, “I’m making a comeback later this year. The money is up to 21 million pounds right now and I simply can’t turn that much cash down.”

But later Sunday, Lewis, 39, released a statement saying he was not making a comeback.

“I want to reiterate what I said when I retired in February 2004 that I was fortunate to leave the sport on my own terms and that I will be one of the few heavyweight champions in history to retire on top and stay retired,” he said.

Lewis retired last February with a 41-2-1 record. Klitschko assumed the title April 24 when he beat Corrie Sanders.

– Associated Press